| Male and Female - 1919 Paramount |
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This film is especially notable because it contains two of Gloria
Swanson's more famous film moments. The first is the infamous bathtub
sequence, showing Swanson taking a bath in a lavish sunken bathtub
that she had ceremoniously glided down into. Gloria Swanson had
an attraction/aversion to water during her film career but, in her
Cecil B. DeMille pictures, including Male and Female, she didn't
mind the water as much, especially if it was in a glamorous setting
with perfumed water and maids in attendance. This film also contains
the sequence showing Swanson's brave encounter with a real lion
in the Babylonian flashback sequence (you have to see it to believe
it!).
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| Madame Sans-Gene - 1925 Famous Players-Lasky
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Gloria played a commoner elevated to Duchess in the time of Napoleon;
from the lost film, Madame Sans-Gene. It was an outrageously expensive
film to make and was shot on location in France. No copy of
the film exists today
This stunning outfit is a sample of the kind of fantasy fashion
for which La Swanson was world famous.
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| Sadie Thompson - 1928 United Artists |
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Sadie Thompson is a South Sea melodrama. Sadie, an "industrious"
girl with a past (played by Gloria Swanson), is trying to hide her
identity on an island in the South Seas. She meets Sergeant O'Hara,
a marine (played by Raoul Walsh), and promises to marry him. Enter
Alfred Atkinson, a tyrannical reformer (played by Lionel Barrymore),
who is persistent, heartless, and obsessed with Sadie's "immorality."
He makes life unpleasant for her and threatens to turn her over
to the police to be deported from the island. Her troubles with
the fire and brimstone Atkinson take a turn for the worse when she
is inspired to reform.
Nominated best actress
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| Sunset Boulevard - 1950 Paramount
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Perhaps Gloria's most famous role was that of Norma Desmomd, the
aging reclusive film star. Though she received second billing under
William Holden most would agree that it is she who is the star of
this film. The similarities between Norma and Gloria's lives are
striking. Erich von Stroheim's performance as Max who shelters Norma
from reality is haunting. This is the blackest of comedies with
all around excellent performances in this Oscar winning film. Gloria
received a nomianation for Best Actress.
Glorias famous ending line.
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Gloria Swanson
Academy Awards 
Nominated for Actress 1927: SADIE THOMPSON
Nominated for Actress 1929: THE TRESPASSER
Nominated for Actress 1950: SUNSET BLVD.
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